K Rinehart, Mary Roberts Published: 1915 Categorie(s): Fiction, Mystery & Detective, Romance Source: http://www.gutenberg.org 1 About Rinehart: Mary Roberts Rinehart (August 12, 1876-September 22, 1958) was a prolific author often called the American Agatha Christie. She is considered the source of the phrase "The but- ler did it", although she did not actually use the phrase herself, and also considered to have invented the "Had-I-But-Known" school of mystery writing. She was born in Allegheny City, Pennsylvania, which has been a part of the city of Pittsburgh since 1907. Her father was a frustrated inventor, and throughout her childhood, the family often had financial prob- lems. She was left-handed at a time when that was considered inappropriate, and she was trained to use her right hand in- stead. She attended public schools and graduated at the age of sixteen, then enrolled at the Pittsburgh Training School for Nurses at Homeopathic Hospital, where graduated in 1896. She described the experience as "all the tragedy of the world under one roof." After graduation she married Stanley Mar- shall Rinehart, a physician whom she met there. They had three sons and one daughter: Stanley Jr., Frederick, Alan, and Elizabeth Glory. During the stock market crash of 1903 the couple lost their savings, and this spurred Rinehart's efforts at writing as way to earn income. She was 27 that year, and she produced 45 short stories. In 1907 she wrote The Circular Staircase, the novel that launched her to national fame. Ac- cording to her obituary in The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, that book alone sold a million and a quarter copies. Her regular contributions to the Saturday Evening Post were immensely popular and helped the magazine mold American middle-class taste and manners. Rinehart’s commercial success sometimes conflicted with her domestic roles of wife and mother. Yet she often pursued adventure, including a job as the first woman war correspondent at the Belgian front during World War I. In the early 1920s the family moved to Washington, DC when Dr. Rinehart was appointed to a post in the Veterans Administra- tion. He died in 1932, but she continued to live there until 1935, when she moved to New York City. There she helped her sons found the publishing house Farrar & Rinehart, serving as its director. She also maintained a vacation home in Bar Har- bor, Maine, where she was involved in a real-life drama in 1947. Her Filipino chef, who had worked for her for 25 years, 2 fired a gun at her and then attempted to slash her with knives, until other servants rescued her. The chef committed suicide in his cell the next day. Rinehart suffered from breast cancer, which led to a radical mastectomy; she eventually went public with her story, at a time when such matters were not openly discussed. The interview "I Had Cancer" was published in a 1947 issue of the Ladies' Home Journal and in it Rinehart en- couraged women to have breast examinations. "The Rinehart career was crowned with a Mystery Writers of America Special Award a year after she published her last novel … and by the award, as early as 1923, of an honorary Doctorate in Literature from George Washington University." She died at age 82 in her Park Avenue home in New York City. Also available on Feedbooks for Rinehart: • The After House (1914) • Long Live the King! (1917) • The Circular Staircase (1908) • The Man in Lower Ten (1906) • The Bat (1920) • Dangerous Days (1919) • The Case of Jennie Brice (1913) • The Street of Seven Stars (1914) • More Tish (1921) Copyright: This work is available for countries where copy- right is Life+50 or in the USA (published before 1923). Note: This book is brought to you by Feedbooks http://www.feedbooks.com Strictly for personal use, do not use this file for commercial purposes. 3 Chapter 1 The Street stretched away north and south in two lines of an- cient houses that seemed to meet in the distance. The man found it infinitely inviting. It had the well-worn look of an old coat, shabby but comfortable. The thought of coming there to live pleased him. Surely here would be peace— long evenings in which to read, quiet nights in which to sleep and forget. It was an impression of home, really, that it gave. The man did not know that, or care particularly. He had been wandering about a long time— not in years, for he was less than thirty. But it seemed a very long time. At the little house no one had seemed to think about refer- ences. He could have given one or two, of a sort. He had gone to considerable trouble to get them; and now, not to have them asked for— There was a house across and a little way down the Street, with a card in the window that said: “Meals, twenty-five cents.” Evidently the midday meal was over; men who looked like clerks and small shopkeepers were hurrying away. The Not- tingham curtains were pinned back, and just inside the window a throaty barytone was singing: “Home is the hunter, home from the hill: And the sailor, home from sea.” Across the Street, the man smiled grimly— Home! For perhaps an hour Joe Drummond had been wandering up and down the Street. His straw hat was set on the back of his head, for the evening was warm; his slender shoulders, squared and resolute at eight, by nine had taken on a discon- solate droop. Under a street lamp he consulted his watch, but even without that he knew what the hour was. Prayer meeting at the corner church was over; boys of his own age were 4 ranging themselves along the curb, waiting for the girl of the moment. When she came, a youth would appear miraculously beside her, and the world-old pairing off would have taken place. The Street emptied. The boy wiped the warm band of his hat and slapped it on his head again. She was always treating him like this— keeping him hanging about, and then coming out, perfectly calm and certain that he would still be waiting. By George, he’d fool her, for once: he’d go away, and let her worry. She wouldworry. She hated to hurt anyone. Ah! Across the Street, under an old ailanthus tree, was the house he watched, a small brick, with shallow wooden steps and— curious architecture of Middle West sixties— a wooden cellar door beside the steps. In some curious way it preserved an air of distinction among its more pretentious neighbors, much as a very old lady may now and then lend tone to a smart gathering. On either side of it, the taller houses had an appearance of protection rather than of patronage. It was a matter of self-respect, perhaps. No windows on the Street were so spotlessly curtained, no doormat so accurately placed, no “yard” in the rear so tidy with morning-glory vines over the whitewashed fence. The June moon had risen, sending broken shafts of white light through the ailanthus to the house door. When the girl came at last, she stepped out into a world of soft lights and wavering shadows, fragrant with tree blossoms not yet over- powering, hushed of its daylight sounds of playing children and moving traffic. The house had been warm. Her brown hair lay moist on her forehead, her thin white dress was turned in at the throat. She stood on the steps, the door closed behind her, and threw out her arms in a swift gesture to the cool air. The moonlight clothed her as with a garment. From across the Street the boy watched her with adoring, humble eyes. All his courage was for those hours when he was not with her. “Hello, Joe.” “Hello, Sidney.” He crossed over, emerging out of the shadows into her envel- oping radiance. His ardent young eyes worshiped her as he stood on the pavement. 5 “I’m late. I was taking out bastings for mother.” “Oh, that’s all right.” Sidney sat down on the doorstep, and the boy dropped at her feet. “I thought of going to prayer meeting, but mother was tired. Was Christine there?” “Yes; Palmer Howe took her home.” He was at his ease now. He had discarded his hat, and lay back on his elbows, ostensibly to look at the moon. Actually his brown eyes rested on the face of the girl above him. He was very happy. “He’s crazy about Chris. She’s good-looking, but she’s not my sort.” “Pray, what is your sort?” “You.” She laughed softly. “You’re a goose, Joe!” She settled herself more comfortably on the doorstep and drew along breath. “How tired I am! Oh— I haven’t told you. We’ve taken a roomer!” “A what?” “A roomer.” She was half apologetic. The Street did not ap- prove of roomers. “It will help with the rent. It’s my doing, really. Mother is scandalized.” “A woman?” “A man.” “What sort of man?” “How do I know? He is coming tonight. I’ll tell you in a week.” Joe was sitting bolt upright now, a little white. “Is he young?” “He’s a good bit older than you, but that’s not saying he’s old.” Joe was twenty-one, and sensitive of his youth. “He’ll be crazy about you in two days.” She broke into delighted laughter. “I’ll not fall in love with him— you can be certain of that.